System for handling coal and the like.



' G. E. THC 0MB.

SYSTEM FOR HANDUNG COAL AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATIQN FILED DEC. 7,1917.

1,282,144. Patent ed 001;. 22, 1918.

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' G. E. TITCOMB.

SYSTEM FOR HANDLING COAL AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 7, I917.

1,282, 144. Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

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G. E. TITCOMB.

SYSTEM FOR HANDLING COAL AND THE LIKE.

7 APPLICATION FILED DEC. 1. I9I7- 1,282,144.

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Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

GEORGE E. rrrcoivin, on NEW roan, n. Y.,

ASSIGNOR TO THE MQIVI'ZLER INTERSTATE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

SYSTEM FOR HANDLING COAL AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Get, 22, 1918,

Application filed December 7, 1917. Serial No. 295,912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonon E. TrrooMB, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Systems for Handling Coal and the like, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to apparatus for handling coal and the like, involving box can unloaders of the type which tilt or rockthe box cars so as to elevate one end and then the other, and permit the contents of the car to flow or be positively moved out of one or both the side doors. A box car unloader of the type referred to is illustrated in a pending application filed in the name of John McMyler, Serial Number 19,851, filed April 8th, 1915.

In conveying coal and other more or less loose material in a box car, which is designed to be unloaded by apparatus briefly mentioned above, it is not practicable to allowthe material to bear against the side doors of the car; hence it is customary to relieve the side doors of the outward pressureof the material by placing just inside the doors transverse planks against which the material bears. i

Before a box car can be unloaded with the apparatus above referred to it is, of course, necessary that these planks be removed after the doors are opened so that the material an then be discharged through the door openings. p If these planks are removed after the car has been run on to the tilting platform of the unloader, obviously the capacity of the unloaderthat is to say the number of box cars that can be unloaded in a given time is decreased by the time wh ich is'requiredto remove the planks extending crosswise on the car just inside the door openings.

The principal object of the present invention is to increase the capacity of the system or apparatus having one or more box ear unloaders of the character referred to by the provision of means whereby while a car is being unloaded on the unloader, the car next to be handled by the unloader is being relieved of the door planking so that as soon as the car is unloaded on the unloader it can be removed and the next car, from which the planks have been removed. can be immediately run thereon and the unloading operation started without keeping the unloader idle, while the planks are being removed from the car.

This object is attained by providing along the track and a short distance from the un-' loader and from the hopper which receives the material therefrom, a plank removing station with a suitable hopper or other receiving means, which receives the material which flows through the door openings when the planks are removed and which discharges on to a suitable eonveyer which may convey the material to the same hopper or receiving means into which the material is discharged by the unloade'r.

An embodiment of my invention is illus trated in accompanying sheets of drawings,

side view illustrating somewhat conventionally one type of box carunloader which may be employed in the system involving my invention. I I

In the drawings 10 represents approach tracks for box cars loaded with coal or other material to be handled, which, for convenience, will be referred to ascoal. These cars are designed to'be run onto the rails or a pair of unloading platforms indicated at 12-12, these platforms being preferably of the general type shown in Fig. 4 having suitable car holding or positioning devices such as shown at 13, and provided at the center with a rounded bearing portion 14, which rolls on a base 15 so that the platform can be rocked back and forth by any suitable means not shown to elevate first one end of the car and then the other.

While the cars on the two platforms are thus being rocked back and forth, the material therein is shoved or fed through one or both side doors by any suitable means and runs into chutes 16 and finally falls into hoppers, one of which is provided beneath each unloader as shown in Fig. 2. lhese hoppers 17 in the system shown in the drawings discharge on to a pair of long conveyer belts 18, which convey the coal laterally to a suitable apparatus, which may, for example, consist of a boat loader.

in addition to the apparatus for handling box cars loaded with coal, the system as here shown includes tracks 19 adapted to receive hop 3Q! cars which are designed to discharge the coal into hoppers 20, having discharge chutes arranged over the laterally extending belt conveyers l8.

Along the tracks l010 close to and in front of the box car unloaders 12-l2 are provided stations 21-21 at which the planking or boards covering the door openings of the box cars are removed just before the box cars are moved on to the tilting platform 12 of the unloaders. These stations include hoppers 22 which are beneath tracks 10, and have discharge chutes which extend laterally inward to a common discharging spout or chute 23, which is located midway between the tracks 10l0 and some distance below the same, as shown in Fig. 8.

The hoppers 21 catch the coal which flows from the ears when the planking is removed and the chutes convey it laterally inward and discharge it onto a conveyor belt 2+: which in this case extends forwardly and upwardly midway between the approach tracks toward the unloaders and at its upper end is slightly above the level of the tilting platforms 12. his belt conveyor M, as here shown, discharges by means of a chute 25 into the two hoppers 17, which receive the coal from the two unloaders and discharge it on to the laterally extending belt conveyers 18 as previously described.

lhus by the provision of the plank removing stations, including the hoppers which are beneath the approach tracks at these points, and the conveyer which receives the coal which flows from the cars while the planks are being removed and conveys it to the hoppers receiving the coal from the unloaders, the planking is removed without in any way delaying the unloaders, and at the same time no coal is lost during removal of the planking, so that the whole system can be operated at its maximum efliciency.

It will be understood that as soon as the cars are unloaded on the tilting platforms 12 the empty or unloaded box cars will be removed on tracks which will lead from the tracks of the tilting platforms and at the same time, or immediately after the cars from which the planking has been removed, will be run on to the platforms of the unloaders, while at the same time, or immediately after, additional cars will be brought up to the plank removing stations. These operations are carried on uninterruptedly while cars of the hopper type are being run along tracks 19 and discharged into hoppers 20, which, together with the hoppers 17, which receive coal from the box cars on the tilting platforms of the unloaders and also from details or arrangements shown.

directly on to one or both the conveyers l8 instead of into the hoppers l'T'of the un loaders as here shown, or to discharge onto some other conveyer or into other suitable receivin means. l, therefore, aim in my claims to cover all such changes or modifi cations which do not involve a departure from the spirit and scope of my invention in its broadest aspects.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: i

1. In an apparatus for handling coal or like material, a box car unloader having means for tilting a car so that material may be discharged through the door opening or openings thereof, a hopper at the unloader for receivingthe material from the box cars, a track leading to the unloader,

and a plank removing station located along the track and having a hopper for receiving material which flows from the box cars dur ing the removal'of planks from the door openings, and conveying means leading-from the last mentioned hopper.

2. In a system for handling coaland the like, a box car unloader of the type which receives and tilts a box car so as to discharge material from the side door opening or openings, a hopper receiving the material from the box cars, a conveyor for receiving the material from said hopper, a track leading to the unloader, a plank removing station located along the track in advance of the unlo'ader, a hopper at said station located beneath the track and a conveyor for receiving and conveying from said last mentioned hopper and discharging the material which flows from the cars on the rematerial, a pair of box car unloaders, each having a tilting platform by which box cars are rocked and the material caused to be discharged therefrom, means for receiving the material from the box cars, a conveyer for conveying material from said receiving means, tracks leading to the unloaders,

plank removing stations at which planks.

may be removed from the box car openings, receiving means located at said stations for receiving material which flows from the cars when the planks are removed, and a conveyer located between the two tracks and receiving the material from the two stations, said conveyer carrying the material toward the unloaders and discharging it so that it will pass to the first named conveyer Which carries the material from the unloaders.

5. In a system for handling coal and the like, a pair of box car unloaders including tilting platforms adapted to receive and rock box cars so that material will be discharged through the side door opening or openings, a pair of hoppers located beneath the platforms and adapted to receive the material when discharged from the cars,'tracks leading to the platforms of the unloaders, plank removing stations located along the tracks in advance of the unloaders and adjacent thereto, hoppers located beneath the tracks at said stations, and a conveyer lo-' cated between the tracks, means for causing the material from the two last mentioned hoppers to be discharged on to the said last mentioned conveyer, said last mentioned conveyer extending forwardly and upwardly toward the unloaders and discharging into the two hoppers thereof.

6. In an apparatus for handling coal or like material, a box-car unloader having means for tilting a car so that the material may be discharged through the door or door openings thereof, a hopper at the unloader for receiving material from a car, a track leading to the unloader, and a door opening station located along the track in advance of the unloader and having a material receiving member for receiving the ma terial which flows from a car when the door or doors are opened.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiix my signature.

GEORGE E. TITCOMB. Witness:

LAURA E. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

